White House calls for phone unlocking

The White House has written to the FCC to allow Americans to run mobile devices they bought on whatever networks they choose.

It wants the federal regulatory agency to "immediately initiate the process of setting rules" that will allow consumers to unlock their devices without fear of punishment. Unlocking mobile phones became illegal in January of this year, when an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, allowing unlocking, expired.

The Obama administration has repeatedly stated that it thought consumers should be allowed to own unlocked mobile phones. The White House's petition was also a response to a "We the People" citizen petition on Whitehouse.gov, which was filed after an October ruling by the Library of Congress's Copyright Office said that it would end the exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that allowed cell phone unlocking on January 26, 2013.